Certain types of head coverings are small relative to the head of the wearer or do not firmly surround the head. If not secured in some fashion to the head, such small head coverings can easily fall off when the head is tilted or moved suddenly or if exposed to a gust of wind. Chinstraps are known to retain hats on the heads of wearers, but these are often uncomfortable and unattractively visible. Other expedients have also been proposed, such as one or more pieces of one half of a Velcro.RTM. closure attached to a band tied around the wearer's head, with the hat having mating halves of the closure affixed to the inner band of the hat, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,079. Obviously, such an arrangement is applicable only to hats or caps which completely surround the head of the wearer.
When the head covering is small relative to the head of the wearer, such as a skullcap or yarmulka, the problem of retaining the covering on the head is particularly acute. Typically, the wearer resorts to a bobby pin or hairclip to grasp the edge of the skullcap along with the wearer's hair to retain the skullcap in position. While the use of hair clips in this fashion is effective in retaining the head covering on the head of the wearer, it suffers from the disadvantages that the clip is visible when in place and thus, aesthetically lacking, and further, that the clip is separable from the skullcap and easily lost or misplaced.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,494, an arrangement to overcome the first of these shortcomings is disclosed. A pocket formed on the interior side of the skullcap receives one arm of the hairclip so that when the clip is inserted and closed to grasp the hair of the wearer, it is not visible on the exterior of the skullcap. While solving the aesthetic problem, this arrangement has other drawbacks. Firstly, creation of the pocket or pockets requires additional manufacturing steps which add considerably to the cost of what ordinarily is a relatively inexpensive item and secondly, since the clip is completely separate, it is still subject to being lost or misplaced.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a means for securing a head covering, such as a skullcap or yarmulka, to the head of the wearer with a hairclip that is not visible when in place, remains firmly connected to the head covering when the latter is removed, can be readily and removably affixed to any head covering and is inexpensive and simple to fabricate.